“Of course.” As I watched, he deftly levered himself out of the chair and into the driver’s seat. I folded up the wheelchair and put it in the trunk, then piled my crap into the backseat and slid into the passenger side.
I studied the hand controls that replaced the gas and brake pedal in the car as we pulled smoothly out into traffic. “So, tell me, how is my boy?” Jolly asked.
“Doing great. Lauren is a terrific trainer and teacher. I generally ride either early in the morning or at night.”
“Not too cold, is it?”
“It’s California. They think it’s cold, but they’re all pussies.” We shared another smile. Then we talked dressage and Vento.
Jolly was as good as his word. The car seemed to dance through traffic, and before I knew it we were into the residential neighborhood that surrounded LaGuardia. He pulled up to the departure area. As I pulled out my luggage I said, “Thank you for not bringing up the thing at Warner Bros. It’s nice not to always be treated as a curiosity.”
“You have had some extraordinary experiences, my dear,” he said.
“Just lucky, I guess.” I smiled and was surprised when there was no answering smile.
“Be careful.” Then he added an odd tag, “Be thoughtful.”
“Thank you for the ride. I’ll keep you posted on Vento, and when we’re likely to get home. Soon, I hope,” I said.
He waved and pulled away, leaving me on the sidewalk outside the American Airlines desk. It wasn’t until his taillights were lost in all the other traffic that it suddenly hit me. How had he known I was even in New York?
20
I was still on my cell phone arguing with David as the line went shuffling past the airline employee who was scanning our tickets.
“Yes, of course it’s a theory, but it makes sense given what Parlan told me about the use of blood in Álfar magic.”
“And he may just be a very old man who is not too steady on his pins,” David countered. “And what’s the rest of your theory? He knocks into people and things so something gets broken, and then what?”
“It looked like he was about to squeeze Palendar’s hand so the piece of glass would cut him.”
“Okay, so. If blood is the key, how does that help? Presumably he has to take the blood away to do his evil spell.”
“Now you’re just being snotty. I bet he would have pocketed the glass. I bet he did that at the sushi restaurant.”
“Do you have proof of that? Did they report there was a piece missing from the broken teapot?”
I was into the jetway now, and the temperature had dropped about thirty degrees. Outside I could hear the wind moaning around the metal tube, causing it to vibrate a bit. Since I had a connection in Denver I really, really hoped there wasn’t another winter storm marching across the country right now.
“Of course not. They weren’t going to try to glue it back together. They probably just swept it up and threw it away. And maybe he wouldn’t have taken the glass. Maybe he would have offered Palendar a handkerchief to wrap up his hand and taken the handkerchief away. It doesn’t matter as long as he got the blood.”
“You probably should have let the situation play out to see if Qwendar actually took the piece of glass or found some other way to get Palendar’s blood. That would have verified your theory.”
“Yeah, but then he’d have Palendar’s blood, and if I’m right, we’d have another Álfar-goes-crazy-and-murders-people incident. It might even have happened at the arbitration.”
The line stalled at the door of the plane while people struggled to find compartments for their carry-on luggage. I finally made it on board, and, juggling my rolling briefcase and cell phone, I staggered back to my seat.
“Linnet, I’m just not buying it. Qwendar is here to protect Álfar interests. Why would he endanger that by having them commit murders? It doesn’t make any sense. I think it was a bizarre coincidence, and you overreacted because you are overtired and stressed. You’ve had another horrific experience. You’ve seen John and his brother, which can’t have been easy”
“Stop patronizing me! I’m tired, yes, and if being really, really pissed off qualifies as stressed, then I guess I’m stressed too, but I am not overreacting. Qwendar was angry when you intervened. I saw his face.”
The plump-faced flight attendant was staring at me. “Miss, you need to turn off your phone now.”
“Look, we’re about to take off. I’ve got to hang up. We’ll talk about this once I’m back in LA.”
I turned off my phone, put it away in my purse, and closed my eyes. It was going to be a long night. I thought about Kerrinan in his prison cell, and Jondin, presumably in another just like it. What if I could prove Álfar magic was behind the killings? Would the courts accept that as a defense? Had John been under a spell when he treated me so shittily? Where did David go on that one day? And what was with him and McGillary? Why was Shade nervous about David? And how had Jolly known I was in New York?
At some time while wrestling with these thoughts I fell asleep and didn’t wake until we landed in Denver. Then there was a mad dash to catch my next flight, only to discover it was delayed forty minutes. I turned aside into a sports bar, to get something to eat and treat myself to a margarita. I had eaten half my burger when there was an announcement that my flight was leaving in twenty minutes instead of the anticipated forty. I threw money onto the table and ran for the gate.
Sleep eluded me on this leg of the trip. I ended up watching the in-flight movie, which was a low-brow comedy filled with young men behaving badly and lots of fart jokes. It was terrible, but at least it kept me from endlessly chewing over the problem of the Álfar.
As I rode down the escalator toward the baggage carousels, I turned on my phone. There was a message from Maslin, and he sounded excited.
“I found something on Human First. Call me.”
I reached the ground floor and looked for a familiar figure. Instead I was surprised to see a burly man in a dark suit holding a sign that said ELLERY. I had had a half notion that David might have picked me up but realized that was a bit too thoughtful for a vampire. But apparently he had sent a car to pick me up. I walked up to the man.
“Linnet Ellery?”
“Yep, that’s me.”
“Do you have luggage?”
“Yeah. Just a small bag. It was a quick trip. Just one night,” I continued and I wondered why I always had this tendency to say more than was necessary.
Amazingly my bag was one of the first out of the chute. The driver grabbed it in one massive hand and we headed outside. It was a clear night, with a full moon fighting Los Angeles light pollution and mostly winning. We crossed the street and into the parking structure. He led me to a black Lincoln town car and put my luggage in the trunk. He opened the back door, but the dome light didn’t illuminate.
“Hey? Where are you?” the driver asked incongruously.
Something in the tone more than the words erased my exhaustion. I tensed, my body wanting to flee, but I paused to look back at him to determine if the flight response was appropriate. My mind should have listened to my body. There was a shimmer in the air as someone moved out of Fey. Among the concrete pillars and the bulking shadows of the parked cars there was a disconcerting view of a meadow. It vanished and Qwendar walked toward us. My stomach was suddenly filled with a cold, aching lump, and my knees began to shake.